Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Bobby Flay's burger chain debuted in Orem on Thursday, the first of nine Utah locations.
- Tony Gemignani's Slice House opens in Salt Lake City on Saturday, with six more Utah sites on the way.
- Both chains aim for U.S. expansion, marking Utah as a key market entry.
OREM — Bobby Flay's latest burger chain made its long-awaited debut in Utah this week, bringing in about 200 customers on its first day.
Still, he already has stiff competition in the fast-casual celebrity restaurant chain market on the Wasatch Front.
Bobby's Burgers by Bobby Flay opened in Orem on Thursday, marking the first of nine restaurants that the chain plans to open in Utah as part of its U.S. expansion. Not be outdone, Slice House by Tony Gemignani opens its first location in Salt Lake City on Saturday, the first of a half-dozen more Utah locations the pizza chain plans to open.
Bobby's Burgers debuts
Bobby's Burgers — co-owned by the three-time James Beard Award winner and host of several popular Food Network shows — announced over the summer it would open nearly a dozen Utah locations. Shortly after, company officials revealed the first location at 575 E. University Parkway in Orem would be among the new businesses at the University Place mall.
More happened behind the scenes in the past few months.
Bobby's Burgers' Utah expansion came through a deal with MTB Management, which until recently mostly owned chain restaurants in Montana. Joe Sample, founder of MTB Management, traveled to the burger chain's North Carolina headquarters for a recipe training session for everything on the menu, ranging from burgers to breakfast sandwiches Flay designed.
Sample told KSL.com that he spent a week working at the chain's flagship location, learning the ins and outs of a fairly simple but more detailed menu than he was accustomed to from his experience operating a series of Taco Bell locations in Montana.
He took that knowledge back to Utah, as he continued planning the chain's first location debut this week. The chain started radio and digital billboard advertising about a month ago, leading up to a soft opening on Thursday.
"We didn't broadcast it anywhere and we got just the right amount of business to keep a nice flow going for continuing the train and develop the staff," he said, adding that the company's ads will likely switch from "opening soon" to "now open" within the next few days as more marketing picks up.
An official grand opening is expected to take place in early 2025, which Flay will attend. Details of that event are still being worked out, but Sample and Flay say they are thrilled to open during the holiday season.
"We're eager to bring our unbeatable burger experience to the community," Flay said in a statement on Thursday. "It's wonderful to see our brand grow and watch as more and more people have the chance to enjoy our burgers, fries and shakes."
Work to open other Utah locations is also underway. Sample said the chain is eying both the Holladay Hills and Daybreak areas in Salt Lake County as part of the next Bobby's Burgers locations, but Utah expansion conversations are mostly in negotiations at this point.
Slice House opens
Meanwhile, Slice House, a growing fast-casual pizza franchise founded by 13-time world pizza championship winner Tony Gemignani, announced its plans to expand into Utah a few months later.
Its first location, 1332 S. Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City, opens this weekend in the revamped Foothill Village Shopping Center.
Its menu features an item unique to Utah called "The Jazzberry" — a play on the Jazz Bear. It's a New York-style white pizza topped with beef, bacon, onions, garlic oil, oregano, and a blend of mozzarella, romano, cheddar, brick and blue cheese. It's also topped with a raspberry jam from Chad's Raspberry Kitchen, a local brand based in Laketown, Rich County.
It plans to open at 11 a.m. Saturday with a celebration with Gemignani in attendance and a few giveaways. Like with Bobby's Burgers, its expansion into Utah is part of a larger plan to add many new locations across the U.S.
"It's an honor to further expand Slice House's footprint across the U.S.," Gemignani said in a statement on Tuesday. "We are looking forward to this location becoming a go-to spot in the city for delicious pizza and memorable dining experiences this winter and beyond."
Other Utah locations are still being determined, as well, but it also joins another restaurant backed by a big name in the culinary industry at Foothill Village.
Flower Child (1414 S. Foothill Drive), founded by 11-time James Beard Award outstanding restaurateur semifinalist Sam Fox, opened in October, as more national names look to break into the Utah market.
